Lose Weight Quickly: 5 Current Diet Trends Worth Trying

Around a hundred and sixty million Americans are either obese or overweight. Shedding those extra pounds requires will-power and a change of diet. That means finding a program that works for you.

If you can get down to a normal weight you’ll feel better, suffer fewer health problems and be more likely to live longer. The incentives are there. Finding the right diet can be the hardest part.

Here are the current diet trends to help you on your way.

1. The Ketogenic Diet

This involves reducing your intake of carbohydrates. These would be things like bread, pasta, potatoes, and sugary drinks or foods. The idea is to replace these with fats.

This forces the body into a state of ketosis meaning you will burn up fat instead of carbs for energy.

Only around ten percent of your daily calories will come from carbs with this diet. You could stick to good slow-release carbs. Around eighty percent of your calories should come from fatty foods such as avocadoes, nuts, and oil.

The diet can sometimes seem a little counterintuitive. That’s because you’ll need to reduce your intake of foods normally considered to be healthy, such as most fruits and certain vegetables.

Some experts only recommend manipulating a state of ketosis under a doctor’s supervision. They also state that the preferred method of fat burn is through exercise. Nonetheless, the keto diet can offer great results in the short-term.

2. The Paleo Diet

This diet has similarities to keto, but it is actually different in many ways. Known as the ‘caveman diet,’ it encourages you to eat foods that would have been available to our Paleolithic ancestors.

The Paleolithic era began two and a half million years ago. This diet means looking at foods that could either have been hunted or gathered. These include lean meats, fish, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

Paleo dieters need to cut out foods that have become popularized through farming. This would include dairy products, legumes, and grains. You could though combine this diet with some aspects of veganism.

Keen followers of the Paleo diet believe that modern eating habits don’t suit our genetic makeup. That means cutting out all types of processed or bad foods, such as fried snacks and carbonated drinks.

3. Intermittent Fasting

This diet plan doesn’t focus so much on what you eat but when you eat. You will need to have two non-consecutive ‘fast days’ each week. On these days you’re allowed one small meal consisting of around five hundred calories.

It’s a good idea to make this small meal very high in protein as it can make you feel fuller.

For the remaining five days, you can eat whatever you want. The results of this diet are impressive with some dieters losing an average of ten to thirty pounds in about eight weeks.

If you combine the diet with more regular exercise it’ll help you to lose even more weight.

One of the key attractions of this diet is that it doesn’t require a restriction of any specific foods. That makes it useful if you’re away from home a lot. You should be aware though that fasting can impact your hormones.

Intermittent fasting is a good choice for women nearing the menopause. It’s not for those who are pregnant or have recently given birth. The downside of intermittent fasting is that it does not teach you strategies for making healthier food choices.

A lifestyle overhaul that a person can maintain for the long term might also be needed. That could provide a healthy, balanced diet as well as pleasurable foods.

4. Practicing Mindful Eating

The concept of this is simple. You need to listen to your body. That means eating when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full. This style of eating can bring about a more positive relationship with food.

When we have busy lives it’s also likely that we simply grab and eat food without even being conscious we’re doing it. We can tend to eat on the run. For example, school lunches are timed, we may eat while driving or working at our desk.

Mindful eating allows us to focus on the nurturing benefits of nutritionally healing our body through total wellness. It means stopping for a moment and taking time to consider what it is we are putting into our bodies.

This way of eating can also incorporate chewing more slowly. That means we actually pay more attention to the flavors and textures of the food we are consuming. Mindful eating encourages us to actually enjoy food.

Mindful eating can help you to sort through any emotional issues you have around food and eating. It can also help you to learn how food affects your mood and energy throughout the day.

5. Plant Proteins

Health, environmental, and ethical concerns may cause more people to eat fewer animal proteins. That means switching to plant-centered diets. Plant-based options such as bean pasta and quinoa burgers are now readily available.

Food trends are increasing our consumption of things like avocado, kale, and quinoa. These are nutrient-dense foods that have enormous health benefits.

Reducing our meat intake by incorporating more of these types of foods can help with weight loss. Other healthy plant foods are dandelion greens, rainbow carrots, beets, and amaranth.

Around half our plates at every meal should be filled with fruit and vegetables. You could also try to replace meat completely with plant-based alternatives one or two days a week.

This can be a real opportunity to experiment with healthier foods you may never have considered eating before. If you enjoy them, you could be on the road to a better diet that becomes permanent.

The Best Current Diet Trends

When you’re trying to lose weight the choice of diets can be a little overwhelming. Our choice of current diet trends is there to help you find a way to lose weight in a way that suits you.

Continue reading the ‘101 Nutrition’ section on our site for more useful dietary tips.